THE penguins at Cotswold Wildlife Park had a bellyful of fish by the end of the park's special event dedicated to the species last weekend.

The waddle of Humboldt penguins at the zoological park in West Oxfordshire were in for a treat on Sunday as the park marked World Penguin Day.

Families were able to get up close to the penguins as part of celebrations including a host of activities related to the species.

Bird keeper Helen Lawless, who is a self-confessed fan of the creatures, said: "We always put on various things to celebrate World Penguin Day such as guess the fish to win a penguin encounter and also the chance to feed the penguins.

"Thankfully they were quite hungry throughout the day."

Penguins fans queued up for the feeding time experience in which the penguins were treated to fish multiple times throughout the day.

There was also a stall set up by the team at Cotswold Wildlife Park with a raffle and guess the fish game to raise funds for the charity Sphenisco charity dedicated to the conservation of Humboldt Penguins.

Ms Lawless added: "I love World Penguin Day and we had a massive queue on the day for feeding the penguins - people love it.

"The penguins themselves were pretty chilled as just another day for them.

"Although for them they were probably a little suspicious as to why they were getting more fish that day."

The park also staged a world record attempt to mark the occasion in which Ms Lawless was put to the test to see how many times she could 'penguin jump' in 30 seconds.

The keeper managed to beat the current number of about 53 - although not officially recorded as a world record - and has submitted her attempt of 72 jumps - a small double-footed jump like a penguin.